The Dragon-slayer they called me. I had the dual class of Dragon-slayer and spell-caster. Either because I killed a lot of dragons, or because I crashed the market with dragon scales.

This called the attention of other players who wished to take my title away from me, as the price of my property had gone up and the lucrative dragon spawn seemed like a good idea again.

As such, the merchant guild of Venarius sent a party up north to storm my castle.

At first I had the entire perimeter of my town walled. This cost me around 200 silver pounds. I hired a local garrison to keep low-level players from trying their luck. But that cold morning, the town gate was blown to dust by a caster.

“Dirty players,” I said.

“Human, allow me to strike at them,” Lion said. But I refused to let her wander off the castle. Her honor would easily get exploited by players.

“You don’t seem to understand, that players aren’t honorable.”

“For a human, you don’t seem to have any good things to say about your own kind.”

I only grinned. But it was true, players had no shame. Maybe if this world was populated by players from 2001, they would honor her duel and even roleplay with her. But modern MMO players are like parasites, they only care about power gaming and beating NPCs as effectively as they can.

Had my castle being a backwater falling state, they would’ve not even bothered to step foot in my land. But since I was prospering, they wanted a piece of the pie.

I allowed them to enter my castle unmolested, but the moment they stood on my carpet, I threw a powerful magical incantation that blew half of their HP.

“Monster, show yourself.”

I, not trying to incur the ire of more players, sent my vampire servant to present herself as the mistress of the castle.

“Fufufufu, you foolish humans, it is I- Diana von Osbern, daughter of the demiurge, and Mistress of this castle, the one who shall put you all to sleep the eternal rest!”

This served to make the players think that an NPC was in charge of the place.

“Is it just a dumb NPC?” The caster asked. “I don’t recall this named boss last time I was in Ravenna.”

“Does it matter? Is just an NPC, how many potions do you bring?”

“forty, you think it will be worth it? What if the loot is really bad?”

“Stop complaining, just attack, and we shall deal with the loot later. The castle might have a coffer or two.”

“Very well,” he said. “Diana, we accept your challenge!”

‘As expected, players care very little about NPCs. After all, NPCs can’t be as menacing as a player. Little did they know, that they were dead wrong.’

[Hell blast]

“What, there is a caster!?”

They realized too late about their folly. I fell upon them with a deathly barrage of fire and downed most of them. Except for the black knight.

“You sure are an unlucky fellow, I shouted.”

“Have we met!?” He asked.

“You likely won’t remember, but let’s just say that cyclops can’t melt enchanted armor.”

“Ah!? you Villain!”

“If I get out of this, I’ll make sure you get hunted!”

“IF.”

I responded with brutal force. But the Dark Knight was now a level 72. He tanked the attack with his armor and then began rushing up the stairs. ‘Crap.’

I threw CC at the stairs and began bombarding him as he walked through the fire. But no matter how many runes I threw at him, he kept healing with potions and advancing at an increasing speed. I began to retreat deeper into the castle and sprayed more CC, but the knight activated haste.

‘Crap.’

He was going to catch me. I opened the door to the dinning hall, only to be met by a fully armored Lion.

“It isn’t any fun now that your scheme has faltered, is it?” Lion said. “Now, move.”

Despite seeing me take cover behind Lion, the knight did not stop his charge. Lunging forward with his blade, he attempted to stab me, but Lion kicked him with such force that the knight was sent diving through the wood railing of the stairs. ‘Nooo! what have you done, my stairs!.’

The knight plummeted back to the lobby, cracking the wooden floor below. Lion gave chase and landed cleanly a few steps away from him, with her war hammer in hand. The knight stood up and used a healing spell to regain some of the HP that the fall stole.

Then the two began their deadly dance. Lion’s war hammer missed every mark. While the Black Knight’s long-sword failed to land. The fight seemed evenly matched.

“You aren’t using fortitude.” The knight said. “Your NPC must pre-date the 2011 winter update. Which means…”

‘Lion’s stats are mediocre in modern meta.’

“Silence. There is no talking in a duel,” Lion replied.

“This is no duel. You are just an outdated NPC. CATCH THIS IF YOU CAN!”

[FORTITUDE]

[EVENTA TEMPUS]

At a speed that almost escaped my view of sight, the knight threw his sword at Lion. Then, performing a sleight of hand, he pulled a spear and launched himself forward as if he was performing a bayonet charge. ‘This felt like 2013 over again….’

“DO NOT ATTEMPT TO-”

Lion tanked the sword throw. Losing half of her HP. She did not blink; her growing red eyes were dead-locked on the spear coming withing her reach. The knight’s battle cry then cracked.

‘Doge….’

Lion had caught the spear mid thrust. “Game over,” she said. The knight only grunted in response.

‘Impressive.’

Before he could let go, Lion took a deep breath and puffed hell on earth. Swallowing the knight in flames. The knight immediately ditched his grip on the spear, only to be punched across the hall. Upon slamming his back against the cobblestone of the castle’s walls, his HP dropped almost to zero.

Wasting no time, she picked her hammer and sent him back to his hometown with a clean blow.

“Good job,” I said. “I am surprised you knew his trick was to get you to waste your reaction points by either dodging or blocked the sword throw.”

“I didn’t” Lion replied.

“Then why did you let the sword hit you?”

“Because I figured that he was trying to be smart to me somehow, and letting myself be hit by the sword was the least thing he expected.”

I smiled, passive-aggressively. ‘It must be her low INT.’

Just after the battle was over, Vampy showed herself again. “Fufufu, we won!”

Both Lion and I looked at her with contempt. “Yeah, no thanks to you.”

Wasting no time, I looted the fallen players and disposed of the evidence that they were ever here. I thought that this was going to be the end of our problems, but this adventurer group wasn’t the last to make an attempt on the castle. Every following week, more and more adventurers showed up. It was only a matter of time before they won. Something needed to be done.

But time for games was over. If they insisted so much on invading my domain. What if I invaded theirs?